If NRG and Loud are S tier teams, then Sen and Lev are 100% A+ level teams. Whatever AM team makes it, they will be the best 2nd seed. Navi and Vitality look good too, but Sen and Lev are just world-class teams, snubbed by the fact they have to face Valorant's true goat in Saadhak. As a Gen.G stan, and a Chinese Valorant lover, I honestly think there is no fucking shot any of these teams is getting into the top 4.

I hope to god that Sen decided to steal the Loud comps. Sen is fucking built to run the Loud comps BETTER than Loud. Sen has played super retake heavy, and fucking thrive on getting safe 1v1's to win the round just off that 4v5 advantage. Getting Zekken and Tenz an extra Initiator to be supported by would make their fights so much stronger, and the extra retake util will let them play even more space. Worst case, it augments Sen's shitty attack.

Tl:Dr - Steal from loud, win some fucking attack rounds, Sen Profit. Otherwise no way Lev lose.

I remember seeing a Riot Employee clarify on twitter that it was random draw, with the caveat of not having the play-in winner and their pool winner together.

That all the Madrid teams started from the same pool?

We just saw Gen.G and PRX be able to make it, so what is the likelyhood we see it from the other regions?

Imo, EMEA is going to be draw based on where Vitality and Navi are placed. I though Navi were going to be washed, but I think they beat every team except fnatic (in their region).

AM is another huge draw, not because it's between the 2 and 3 team, but because it's which B pool team will have to beat NRG. I think Lev and Sen are similar levels of being able to take down NRG, but historically my goat Saadhak owns that core.

China is the hardest. There are 2 likely scenarios - TEC come out and shock EDG or Trace is able to recreate magic (they are the only team to beat EDG in China through their competative circuit). Maybe it happens? I'm still torn between wheather JDG or FPX could really step up, but if we get a life or stew pop off, then ANYTHING is possible.

I wasn't able to eatch the games, but damn the DRX comps look ass. Single yoru on bind? Cypher on Lotus? I don't get why they were so against flashback on KJ or viper, when I remember his viper play looking good. Like I said, need to watch the game, but it looks like an immediate comp diff.

Also I almost shed a tear when I woke up and checked that Gen.G were able to win, I'm so happy for them.

Lowkey, I want Sen to play Split, Bind, and Ascent, just so they can steal the Loud comp. Sen was on a worse retake comp vs Loud, and had the best looking retakes I've seen. Stealing Loud's comp that lets you fuck them up with util and benefits Sen's playstyle. Plus, it gives sen an extra layer to support Zekken or Tenz when they want to get aggressive. I think they could use the comps as good or even better than Loud.

Idk just looking at his positions it felt like Warbirds just said "solohold whatever Borkum won't" and then left him to do whatever.

I believe in the straight up firepower of Gen.G being enough to duel DRX or T1, but the structure of the other 2 korean teams is just so much better than Gen.G. I don't think Zeta or TS have quite enough firepower, while their structure will still be worse than what we'll see from T1 or DRX.

Bald white guy in NA > Bald white guy in Korea

• idk william is just boring, doesn't get any emotion in his casting.

That 4 month break of Val made me forget how boring paperthin and william are as casters. Like, I have no clue what they did before Val, but they feel like nepo babies. Quack and Asurai are funny, they handle chaos really well, they are solid casters. You can BARELY excuse paperthin or william when they have Achilios (idk how to spell his name, I could literally just say the good one) cause that man carries as the main AND color caster. I'm like 70% sure that those 2 don't watch any val outside of what they cast. They feel like the most nothing casters in the english scene. I still remember when they got the Australian casters in for a tourney and it lapped the entire careers of William and Paperthin combined.

As an NA resident, I'm fully supportive of sending Bren down there since I think he was in Korea for some of the offseason? Stick Sideshow and Ender together, that would still work well CAUSE THOSE TWO ACTUALLY KNOW SOME VAL. Just please, pacific would be so mich better without the only individuals in the val scene with less W's than DFM.

Edit: i went to Sideshow's stream and he's put in more valuable input in 2 rounds than the entirety of William and Paperthin's cast.

Highkey it's up to whether Oxy and MWzera pop off enough, if they do 100T maxes at 8th imo, but if that carry duo doesn't do enough then 100T can get 6th.

Last news I heard about this whole situation was Sean during his recent touney. He said that NRG and 100T weren't in positions to play, despite his invite to them. It's all too likely that EG is just trying to postpone the dissolution of their current valorant team or overall valorant work, just to squeeze as much money out of NRG and 100T. Like, they still all scrim and shit, but it's got to have an effect mentally on all the players on both rosters of "will we actually get this guy or not?" I doubt that any team (NRG, 100T or EG/substitute) will be prepared enough for the first tournament, considering how every other team has been grinding. C9 playing those back to back to back tourneys, furia playing in mutliple tournaments, Leviathan and G2 both playing tourneys and having an EU bootcamp, Kru trying their best, and then Sen looking like the best. Loud and MIBR have been set for a bit, so I'm less worried about them playing against their expectations. If I were to guess, early January - about the second week - would be when news drops.

I was almost never able to watch Gen.G during the regular season, so I'm very excited to see what this new roster can do. Give 'em hell.

Sen have just always been shit at getting first bloods. They've always been good at winning once they get a FB (mostly due to how every iteration was based on mechanical ability), but they've never been great at converting first engements into first kills. Now that they have 1) no role issues 2) an even higher mechanical peak and 3) the best framework in the orgs history, they should be set up better than ever to be a good team.

Daily reminder that Prime Tenz is just Tenz when he converts his first engagements into first kills. He's basically always in the top 3 of most first deaths but when he was referred to as prime TenZ he just went positive in FB-FD. Like, Sen vs Fnatic finals in 2021, Tenz went 19-2 in FB-FD. He's never been put into a good framework to truly succeed.

Last note, THANK GOD PANCADA IS ON SMOKES AGAIN. 2 points here, kinda related. 2023 was the most valuable Sentinels have ever been, and Sen had a bad sentinel, it just wasn't a fit for pancada. Second point, Pancada was one of, if not the single most, useless players. He didn't die much, he didn't kill much, he didn't clutch much, he didn't do much at all. I'd just pack this in as a symptom of the role change. Just getting him more engaged, PLUS the fact that JohnQT is a better player than deph or (hate me, i don't care) marved were in 2023, will allow the whole team to feel way more comfortable and play better overall.

My goat

My goat dropped 32 on the most important map of 2022, including going 12-3 against your goat, topping it off with 7 of the last 10 kills of the map (to win OT).

That's my goat. THE goat.

Zellsis quite literally plays every role and is an amazing emotional leader. He is made to be the perfect 6th man. He's a perfect content guy. There isn't a single 6th man in the whole scene who is at Zellsis' value with the sole exception of screwface.

i was going to say some un-okay things, but thinking about it, he didn't have a great year and I agree that nuking the roster (not keeping k1ng and sylvan) is wack.

The week Evil Geniuses beat OpTic Gaming. Looking back onto this specific match on a random week of NA's second 2022 stage, this match might have defined 2023 as a whole.

Here is the context:

Obviously, this was the Optic coming off an International Lan victory - this was the best team in the world. This team was 3-0, dropping a single map to C9 (Who had just went 5-0 in stage 1, getting 3rd in playoffs - they weren't quite washed yet) and having a relatively easy time against Faze, while bodying Sen.

EG had just gone 0-5 in Stage 1 of NA, winning just 2 maps. They decide to keep their star op-ers in Boostio and Jawgemo, alongside their smokes player, Reformed. They now have c0m and apoth on the roster, but get 9-12th in the open qualifiers - losing to V1 and 100T. Thankfully they make it out of the second round of open qualifers. They lose their first game to C9, 2-0 with an overtime on map 1, but they bring it back and crush luminosity 2-0 in week 2. Now, it was time to face Optic.

Long story short, EG was able to beat optic on map 1 and 3 (with maps 2 and 3 being just a two round difference). Both winning maps were led by Boostio on the chamber, who went +4 against yay in the series.

But why was this match so important? Well, EG was not seen as a good team at this point. Going 0-5 in the first stage and fumbling groups was not a good thing for them. This match made EG the team that beat Optic. Yes, EG only got 5th-6th in playoffs, and went 0-2 in LCQ, but they were still the team that beat Optic. EG only made playoffs because they beat Optic.EG was only considered hopeful once they beat optic. The interesting thing is though, if EG lost to optic that core and potter are likely dropped for franchising. Think about it - a whole year of mediocrity, a whole year where their best performance is beating luminosity. No way that core gets through. Then we don't get the beautiful story of EG in 2023.

Moral of the story: FNS fucking made these kids, pipe the fuck down.

Idk, I almost failed pre-cal cause I played through Paper Mario instead of listening and played more Paper Mario instead of doing the homework.

Play paper mario, great game.

bcj got it and that's all I care about

To quote Leo "Promotion is earned in-game, not out of it."

If Leo and Riot do not want to set a precedent of... whatever... the best solution I can offer is very simple: Replay Top 4 of America's Ascension. This becomes a special situation, and Riot can then cite it as one. Bring back 9z, M80, Union, and the former Guard roster - letting the roster chose their org. If it gives the Union, M80, or 9z another opportunity to win, so be it. If Guard win it again, they DOUBLEY deserve it. I don't think it's fair for "Promotion is earned in-game, not out of it." when Promotion can be destroyed SOULY outside of the game. If he doesn't want a precedent, let them prove it in game. I'm sure the players would rather this than nothing at all.

Even just replaying the final of M80 and Guard, WHO WERE THE BEST TWO TEAMS IN ALL OF ASCENSION FOR THE WHOLE YEAR.

If we can have something, just let them earn it in any way possible.

I think it'd feel worse for NOTHING to happen rather than the team that was neck-and-neck with you the ENTIRE year to get the spot.

I mean, a certain some ones have just been cucked out of franchising.

s0m is the prototype of Demon1, he can play whatever the fuck you need

The most NA week of all of NA

• Win Champs
• Player gets over 100 assists in 2 maps (GC)
• roster fucked by Twitter
• org being sued for being financial rats
• every other pro roster being split in half
• FNS streams

God I love this region.

If Tenz could get the FB consistently he'd be a top 5 player in AM, but instead he's tied with Keznit for the most first deaths on all of AM. Just remember, he went 19-2 in first bloods at Masters 1. Him being at his prime is just winning opening gunfights.

I'm still huffin on my good old Foxy9 hopium

I got school and shit

Who the fuck thinks Tokyo was fraudulent.

EMEA fans like Republicans, gotta create their own oppression.

He had exalt, it's unfair

AM had 50% of its representatives in top 3
EMEA had 0% of it representatives in the top 3

Fnatic heard VLR call them the "1" team in EMEA and they took that too literal.

Until EG beat PRX or Fnatic, I'm doubting them to win a tourney

People didn't get mad at EG for losing to prime Fnatic, so there is no need to make fun of NRG for losing to the goats of the game, the next Champ winners, Bilibili Gaming.

I ask the 1, maybe half, of a Riot Dev who may possibly skim over this godforsaken site that I can ban out a map or 3 in my ranked/unrated games.

We are getting 10 maps total after Champs, 3 of which will be out of the competitive pool. Those 3 maps will likely be Haven, Ascent, and Icebox - 2 of which have been staples of the game since its official launch. With the backbones of the map pool gone, I think it's the perfect time to implement a system of map choice for Ranked and Unrated modes. Why is the 99.9% of thr player base LOCKED into the pro-oriented map rotation? I think that question becomes more and more weak when we consider how (in the next few months) a complete rollout of Premier will be released. THAT is the path to pro, THAT should follow a pro pool - not my Plat lobby games. People who want to play maps they like will do so, players who want to continue practice on the pro circuit of maps will also do so. I don't even need a complicated system, just let me check of maps that I would like to play. Fuck it, make the minimum like 5 maps so you can abuse it for leaderboard or anything.

Now to cover some concerns:

What about new maps or reworked maps? Make them unbannable for a week or two. Force people to check them out and gain experience on them.
What if some maps aren't being played? I feel like that's a positive of this system being implemented - it will provide a much better way to discern what maps are liked or disliked by the community and changes should be addressed based on that information.
What if we never get a ban-system for Val? I might just fucking end it all.

Short Version: We have Premier for pro-map circuit, let me - casual timmy - play whatever the fuck I want in my fun shooter game.

I just don't like the vibes of these socialist fucks.

(Holy shit I want to move to Europe more than anything, but hot damn are they shit at Valorant)

This last week has, in my opinion, been HUGE for Foxy9 - more than even participating at VCT events. Just watching him, he's the most confident he's ever been. He's sharper, he's louder. These are things we know he lacked at certain times in Pacific (Specifically his inconsistency and how much hes been publicly critisized for his small mistakes by his team). I think that this is the first time Foxy9 hasn't felt like he's just competing in VCT, but actually felt like a full fledged player - a pro, beside Tenz and not behind him. Beyond it all, he's just been a kid and a fan for most of his VCT career. Playing- and dogwalking - NA ranked with such a large assortment of pros has clearly improved him as a player, just simply based in his confidence. I don't expect to see Foxy9 at Champs, but I do expect to see the best version of him starting in the 2024 Pacific VCT.

I'm a huge Foxy9 fan, and I'm hoping for nothing but the best for him.

Clearly the best sub-region in Valorant, fully boosting NA.

But fr, Loud hasn't looked this good since Lock//In. Great to see them playing like themselves again.

More importantly, AM is currently 4-1 against EMEA in Champs - I think that is 14-10 now in AM vs EMEA over the year.

Get a 2-2-2-2 for Champs would be HYPE

Plus if NRG win, we're just going to get El Clasico - NA vs NA first round at an international lan.

who can beat fnatic tho

Liquid? All that took was fnatic doing nothing to prepare or add to their gameplay AND soulcas + redgar overperforming.

I feel like this european genes shit started something a few years back...

6" 128lbs

or

183 cm 58kg

If something dropped 35 he would have still been called mid

Do not be out here disrespecting Bilibili gaming, cause bili is fucking gaming.

fut, fnatic, navi all won their first round

China good

China is my goat

China >>> EU, NA, Rest of Asia, the fucking Martians

China is the question and the answer. China is the statement, China is the truth, China is the first interaction and the final boss.

idk what's going on, but I'm like 0% sure there is video footage of Marved hitting a vape between maps. Was consuming nicotine mid-game allowed regionally? Is it just the nature of how snus was used? I'm sure this will cause riot to put out some sort of statement, just to give more information then.

Bro I've gone fucking mad I have no clue why I thought this about marved